Now Imagine this fool in the locker room with a young passive 20 year old european still grasping english who doesn't rebound...oh and is 7 feet. No wonder Andrea was stagnant his first two seasons. Was probably afraid to get a choke slam through a medics table, or a chair to the back at practice.

Mitchell had a huge ego, he was a former player who acted as if he was hall of fame material in his day and always seemed to have this " I know something you don't know" demeanor about basketball.

Now Imagine this fool in the locker room with a young passive 20 year old european still grasping english who doesn't rebound...oh and is 7 feet. No wonder Andrea was stagnant his first two seasons. Was probably afraid to get a choke slam through a medics table, or a chair to the back at practice.

Mitchell had a huge ego, he was a former player who acted as if he was hall of fame material in his day and always seemed to have this " I know something you don't know" demeanor about basketball.

Sorry, have to call you out. Everything you said about Smitch is fiction created in your head. Let's look at facts.

1 This player with a huge ego gave up his starting position so that a High School kid could start over him. To this day while working on NBA TV and radio he admits that he was a mediocre player. I think you're confusing volume with ego.

2 The best "Euro" team the Raps have had was coached by Smitch. Matter of fact, if you followed Euroleague you would know that most of the teams have coaches closer to him than your standard "player's coach" that you find in the NBA. If anything, Bargs should be used to even louder coaches.

3 The biggest thing that hurt Bargs development was the false pretense that he was a Center. No matter what the coach thinks, if the people above tell him to play him as a 5 that's what the coach has to do. Bargs never was a 5. We needed a 5. We drafted a 4, and then tried to sell him as a 5 to please naive fans. It didn't work,and our best player took his talents.....

Let me make this clear, in no way do I believe that Sam Mitchell should be coaching. But character assassination to feed your ego is just as reprehensible as some of the technical, personnel, and clock management mistakes the man consistently made.

"He probably was a little tired from All-Star Weekend. While he was running up and down the court throwing it off the backboard, I was laying on the beach drinking a fruity drink with an umbrella. So I probably gave myself an unfair advantage on that one."
Explaining why he outplayed Carter two days after the All-Star Game.

And

"I'm a GM in fantasy basketball and I'm a GM on PlayStation, so on PlayStation I probably would have got a little more, but this is real life, so I don’t know."
On the Vince Carter trade.

Sorry, have to call you out. Everything you said about Smitch is fiction created in your head. Let's look at facts.

1 This player with a huge ego gave up his starting position so that a High School kid could start over him. To this day while working on NBA TV and radio he admits that he was a mediocre player. I think you're confusing volume with ego.

2 The best "Euro" team the Raps have had was coached by Smitch. Matter of fact, if you followed Euroleague you would know that most of the teams have coaches closer to him than your standard "player's coach" that you find in the NBA. If anything, Bargs should be used to even louder coaches.

3 The biggest thing that hurt Bargs development was the false pretense that he was a Center. No matter what the coach thinks, if the people above tell him to play him as a 5 that's what the coach has to do. Bargs never was a 5. We needed a 5. We drafted a 4, and then tried to sell him as a 5 to please naive fans. It didn't work,and our best player took his talents.....

Let me make this clear, in no way do I believe that Sam Mitchell should be coaching. But character assassination to feed your ego is just as reprehensible as some of the technical, personnel, and clock management mistakes the man consistently made.

He gave up his starting position to KG..might have been unknown at the time but he turned out to be KG. Smitch did walk around with an ego, how can you say he didn't? He may have been humble once you got to know him but to the fanbase he came off as arrogant and his way or no way because he again "knows something we don't". He got fired after an 8-9 start. WE had high expectations that year but a firing after an 8-9 start suggests he wasn't liked after a while. In no way do I give Smitch credit for our atlantic division winning team. Bosh was a beast and Parker and Garbs were amazing that year as well. TOTAL TEAM effort, the same I'm hoping for this year. Problem was we came from obscurity one season to a year with a bunch of unknown euros and won the division so "oh, must have been the coachin".

The NBA is leaps and bounds better than any other league. Coming over as a number one pick learning a language and figuring out the NBA like Andrea did is not easy. It is one thing to get yelled at from a coach in your own country where you are acclimated and probably feel you belong but to leave home and do it in the NBA with all the other factors is difficult. Having Mitchell as coach DID NOT HELP PERIOD.

I guess we'll have to wait till Vince, or Bosh retire to find out who's right. Or maybe Rose will talk about whether Smitch was a big ego guy. He definitely wasn't a BCo guy. Clearly Triano couldn't have done what he did. However, none of this stops me from believing that technically Smitch was a flawed coach, just not a supporter of the ego thing.

I swear sports must be the only place where you are given reprieve for being an immigrant. If you come over here via a foreign workers permit I suspect no one will accept the idea that since you're from a different country you have an excuse to not do your job well. Bargs played in the Euroleague, he was used to travel, having teammates who spoke different languages, etc., If he was coming out of the Chinese pro league, or a South American pro league I would accept that premise, but playing in the Euroleague -- different story.

I guess we'll have to wait till Vince, or Bosh retire to find out who's right. Or maybe Rose will talk about whether Smitch was a big ego guy. He definitely wasn't a BCo guy. Clearly Triano couldn't have done what he did. However, none of this stops me from believing that technically Smitch was a flawed coach, just not a supporter of the ego thing.

I swear sports must be the only place where you are given reprieve for being an immigrant. If you come over here via a foreign workers permit I suspect no one will accept the idea that since you're from a different country you have an excuse to not do your job well. Bargs played in the Euroleague, he was used to travel, having teammates who spoke different languages, etc., If he was coming out of the Chinese pro league, or a South American pro league I would accept that premise, but playing in the Euroleague -- different story.

+1

I think that is why he has yet to be rumoured as a finalist for any head coaching gig and why he only lasted 1 year with Avery Johnson in NJ.... pure speculation and opinion on my part it should be noted.

I guess we'll have to wait till Vince, or Bosh retire to find out who's right. Or maybe Rose will talk about whether Smitch was a big ego guy. He definitely wasn't a BCo guy. Clearly Triano couldn't have done what he did. However, none of this stops me from believing that technically Smitch was a flawed coach, just not a supporter of the ego thing.

I swear sports must be the only place where you are given reprieve for being an immigrant. If you come over here via a foreign workers permit I suspect no one will accept the idea that since you're from a different country you have an excuse to not do your job well. Bargs played in the Euroleague, he was used to travel, having teammates who spoke different languages, etc., If he was coming out of the Chinese pro league, or a South American pro league I would accept that premise, but playing in the Euroleague -- different story.

yeah, damn sports mentality! Makes ya wonder about the excuses for American rookies. They're already used to travel in the NCAA, have been speaking the language of choice all their lives, and yet so few do their job well when they come into the league. I don't understand why they're given so much time to get up to speed when they have no adjustments to make.

yeah, damn sports mentality! Makes ya wonder about the excuses for American rookies. They're already used to travel in the NCAA, have been speaking the language of choice all their lives, and yet so few do their job well when they come into the league. I don't understand why they're given so much time to get up to speed when they have no adjustments to make.

yeah, damn sports mentality! Makes ya wonder about the excuses for American rookies. They're already used to travel in the NCAA, have been speaking the language of choice all their lives, and yet so few do their job well when they come into the league. I don't understand why they're given so much time to get up to speed when they have no adjustments to make.

Whoa. That's a bridge too far. NCAA players play a lot less games a year. Coming out the Euroleague you are a professional, have more than 1 2hr practice a day. You play in three leagues, and if you are good enough to get drafted you are also part of your country's national system. You can't compare the development of an amateur with a professional in a legit league. Well you can, but it's a non-starter. Unless the kid played for Texas Tech they are protected from abuse, have responsibilities like classes, etc.

On average NCAA kids appear to develop into better players, however, professionals should be further along on average in their development than amateurs when they first start. At least that's what logic would dictate. If we look at soccer for instance, North American kids who play their youth soccer in Europe tend to become better professionals than kids who go through the NCAA, and then MLS into Europe. Why? Because the kids who go over early are immersed in a professional environment.

As far as the language thing. Someone like Bargs was probably spotted as a potential NBA player when he was 14, or 15 -- look at Canada's Wiggins for example, hell look at Big Val! So he's playing pro ball on a team with English speaking teammates, knows he has to learn English at a decent age, and if he's not confident in his English he can pull out of the draft, or stay in Europe until he's ready.

Finally, he's from Europe. If you've lived, visited, have friends from there you already know this but its worth stating: You can travel to other countries for cheap, and neighboring countries can be vastly different from one another. The idea of culture shock, because he hasn't seen different cultures than his own...I can't buy it. Kid is doing okay financially, it's not like he couldn't have flown family over if this was an issue, and trust me if he needed some home cooking half of this board could find an Italian family to fill his belly. Toronto isn't Milwaukee, if you're home sick you can find people from your background.

It's not like rims are lower in Europe or something. And even if I accepted your excuses the fact remains that the primary thing that stunted Bargs' development was him playing the 5. He's officially been a 4 for what, 2 seasons? And dude is about to go beast on people (I'm not his biggest fan and even I see it coming -- barring injuries).

Whoa. That's a bridge too far. NCAA players play a lot less games a year. Coming out the Euroleague you are a professional, have more than 1 2hr practice a day. You play in three leagues, and if you are good enough to get drafted you are also part of your country's national system. You can't compare the development of an amateur with a professional in a legit league. Well you can, but it's a non-starter. Unless the kid played for Texas Tech they are protected from abuse, have responsibilities like classes, etc.

On average NCAA kids appear to develop into better players, however, professionals should be further along on average in their development than amateurs when they first start. At least that's what logic would dictate. If we look at soccer for instance, North American kids who play their youth soccer in Europe tend to become better professionals than kids who go through the NCAA, and then MLS into Europe. Why? Because the kids who go over early are immersed in a professional environment.

As far as the language thing. Someone like Bargs was probably spotted as a potential NBA player when he was 14, or 15 -- look at Canada's Wiggins for example, hell look at Big Val! So he's playing pro ball on a team with English speaking teammates, knows he has to learn English at a decent age, and if he's not confident in his English he can pull out of the draft, or stay in Europe until he's ready.

Finally, he's from Europe. If you've lived, visited, have friends from there you already know this but its worth stating: You can travel to other countries for cheap, and neighboring countries can be vastly different from one another. The idea of culture shock, because he hasn't seen different cultures than his own...I can't buy it. Kid is doing okay financially, it's not like he couldn't have flown family over if this was an issue, and trust me if he needed some home cooking half of this board could find an Italian family to fill his belly. Toronto isn't Milwaukee, if you're home sick you can find people from your background.

It's not like rims are lower in Europe or something. And even if I accepted your excuses the fact remains that the primary thing that stunted Bargs' development was him playing the 5. He's officially been a 4 for what, 2 seasons? And dude is about to go beast on people (I'm not his biggest fan and even I see it coming -- barring injuries).

NA kids who play in Europe develop into better soccer players because the competition and coaching are far superior to that of the NCAA. The best kids would all choose to play for a club team in europe over Syracuse for soccer. Not a good argument but overall a great rebuttal.